1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display module, and more particularly, relates to a dual display module for use in a display apparatus.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
With the advancement of technologies and evolvement of product specifications, many commercially available electronic products now have an additional display screen in addition to the primary display screen. The addition of the display screen improves the overall functionalities of an electronic product and provides the user with more conveniences. An example of such product is a clamshell style mobile phone, which has both an inner and an outer display screen. The inner screen, which is usually a display panel that has a larger size and higher definition, is adapted to display primary message frames when the user operates the mobile phone. On the other hand, the outer screen can display the time, incoming calls, pictures, motion pictures and the like; so that the user may be informed of such information in real time without need to open the flap of the mobile phone. Other examples include the palmtop game machines, which also have dual screens capable of displaying different frames to provide the player with adequate gaming information.
Aside from the aforesaid small sized portable apparatuses, notebook computers with a larger-size screen have also adopted the dual-display design. As shown in FIG. 1A, the notebook computer 10 has an outer screen 13 on the casing thereof in addition to the inner screen 11 of a larger size (as shown by the dashed line). When the display panel of the notebook computer 10 is closed, it is still possible for the user to acquire pertinent information from the outer screen 13, for example, incoming of e-mails or real-time messages.
A dual display module of the prior art simply manages to design two display modules into a display apparatus. In other words, two independent light sources and two independent display modules are combined together and then connected to a circuit board (not shown). Furthermore, in terms of the arrangement of the light sources, the solutions of the prior art typically bond the light source onto a flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL) to form a light bar, and then fix the light bar to a particular position during the subsequent assembling process.
FIG. 1B illustrates a side view of the dual display module of the prior art. The first display module 15 consists of a flexible circuit board 101a, a first panel 102a, a composite optical film 103a, a light guide plate 104a and a light bar 106a. Similarly, the second display module 17 comprises a flexible circuit board 101b, a second panel 102b, an optical film 103b, a light guide plate 104b and a light bar 106b. Additionally, the first display module 15 and the second display module 17 are disposed at both sides of a reflective plate 105 respectively, so that the reflective plate 105 reflects light from the light bars 106a, 106b to improve the light emergence percentages of the first display module 15 and the second display module 17. As a result, the luminance of the first display module 15 and the second display module 17 can be increased.
FIG. 1C further depicts a detailed structure of the light bars 106a, 106b, in which a plurality of light sources 107 (e.g., a plurality of light-emitting diodes) are disposed on an FCCL 107a to form a light source module. During the subsequent assembling process of the display apparatus, the light bars 106a, 106b are fixed into a particular position. However, during the process of assembling the light bars 106a, 106b, factors such as positions and electrical connections thereof should be taken into account, which causes a rather complex and inaccurate manufacturing process as well as increased manufacturing costs.
In summary, it is highly desirable in the art to provide a dual display module with a better structural design that allows an improvement to the manufacturing process of the display apparatus.